Press Conference - Launch of Global Report "State of Biodiversity Action" - Conference of the Parties (COP 17)

Can the interpreters speak on the English channel, please? All right, good afternoon. If I could ask everybody to take their seats, please. And welcome to this press conference to launch the State of Biodiversity Action Report. This comes, obviously, on the eve of the 2026 Biodiversity Conference. We are delighted to be joined by the Minister of Environment of Armenia, Mr. Hovhannadzum Matesvoryan, the Secretary General of the UN, the Executive Director of the UN Environment Program, Inger Andersen, and the Executive Secretary on the Convention of Biological Diversity. We'll have some short statements and then we'll take some questions. Mr. Minister, if I can ask you to open. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. It's a great honor to welcome to Armenia the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Inger Andersen, and the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Austria Schumacher. We are particularly honored to have you all here together in Yerevan. Your presence reflects the importance of this moment for the global biodiversity action and sends a strong message of shared purpose, leadership, and international cooperation. Let me also warmly welcome the Armenian international journalists joining us today, both in person and online. Over the coming days, Yerevan will become a global center for biodiversity diplomacy, bringing together heads of state and government, ministers, international organizations, businesses, indigenous peoples, and local communities, civil society, scientists, and young people from all around the world. This gathering reflects the importance of the biodiversity for our collective future, but the success of COP17 will not be measured by the number of the participants alone. It will be measured by whether we can translate political commitment into implementation and measurable progress. Four years ago in Montreal, the international community adopted the historic Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, committing to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. COP15 gave us the framework. COP16 advanced important mechanisms for its implementation, and COP17 must now help us to determine where we stand, what is working, where progress is falling short, and what must change to accelerate implementation. For the first time, we will undertake a global review of collective progress under the framework. This is an opportunity for an honest assessment of what has been achieved, where the gaps remain, and what is required over the next four years. That is why the launch of the State of Biodiversity Action Report is so timely. I'm honored to join His Excellency Secretary General for this important moment. For us, hosting COP17 is both a major international responsibility and a unique opportunity to strengthen action for nature at home. Armenia's extraordinary biodiversity is one of the greatest national assets. Protecting it requires stronger ecosystem conservation and restoration, more effective protected area management, improved monitoring, and greater integration of biodiversity into economic and development decisions. We have advanced our national biodiversity agenda, including through its National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan for 2026-2030. And at the same time, we recognize that important challenges remain, especially in strengthening implementation capacity and mobilizing sustainable financing. Our responsibility is not simply to protect nature from economic activity, but to ensure that our model of development does not undermine the natural systems on which our economies and societies depend. This brings me to one of the central messages of the Armenian presidency. Biodiversity cannot remain the responsibility of environmental ministries alone. Protecting biodiversity is inseparable from food and water security, economic resilience, public health, and the well-being of future generations. This is why we are placing particular emphasis on whole-of-government, whole-of-society engagement, mobilizing finance, and strengthening the scientific and monitoring capacities needed for implementation. The Leaders' Summit will provide an important opportunity to elevate biodiversity to the highest political level. Our ambition is not simply bring leaders together for one event, but to help establish sustained political establishment that can drive implementation beyond COP17. In the coming days, we also look forward to engaging environmental ministers, finance ministers, and other decision makers on how to better align policies, investments, and financial flows with our biodiversity commitments. We are equally committed to an inclusive COP17, ensuring meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women, youth, civil society, scientists and businesses. At the time of significant geopolitical challenges, the Armenian Presidency is committed to facilitating dialogue and bringing different positions closer together and helping Parties build consensus. The global review will provide an essential basis for these discussions, but understanding the state of biodiversity action is only the first step. We must turn that understanding into decisions, resources, and practical mechanisms that accelerate implementation. For me, the COP17 will be one of the successful COP17, will be one that strengthens the integration of biodiversity into economic and development decisions, advances cooperation and financing, and creates momentum that continues well beyond Yerevan. And let Yerevan be remembered not only as the place where the world assessed its progress, but as a place where the assessment helped accelerate action for nature. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Minister.

Secretary-General, ladies and gentlemen of the media, thank you very much for your presence. And let me start by some good news. Four years ago, the world established the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Guided by 23 targets, the framework sets out a clear pathway to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and ease the pressures that are driving our planet's natural systems to the brink. The Global Progress Report being launched today measures our actions against this bold vision. It shows that nearly 90% of parties to the Convention have established national biodiversity targets. Over half have set out their own national roadmaps for delivery, and many more are nearing completion. More than 70% have measured and reported on results. And stakeholders have made 5,000 commitments so far, including indigenous peoples, local communities, subnational governments, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. But the report also shows a gap between ambition and action. So let me also give you the bad news. fewer than half of the national biodiversity targets are on track. For example, if current commitments are met, only 26% of terrestrial ecosystems and 12% of marine ecosystems will be protected by 2030. That is well short of the 30 times 30 targets agreed in Montreal. We also see major gaps in targets linked to economic systems, including those focused on reducing harmful incentives and promoting net nature positive ones. And the report shows that many of the critical elements of progress, including finance, capacity, operation and data, are still missing in action. These bad news mean that the war on nature has not yet ended, and we still live the dramatic combination of the three global crises: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of loss of biodiversity, and the crisis of pollution. that are all interlinked. Now, the evidence contained in this report points out to where we need to go if we need to overcome, if we want to overcome these three crises and end the war on nature. Finance and capacity for developing countries must be mobilized at scale. Countries must honor their official development assistance commitments. Governments need to end harmful incentives and subsidies, strengthen social protection measures, redirect spending to nature-positive outcomes, and work with businesses to ensure strong disclosure agreements. Biodiversity must be part of every decision being made. across policies, regulations and budgets. And we also need to coordinate across sectors and continue addressing all the drivers of biodiversity loss, including land use change, climate change, invasive alien species, pollution and the direct exploitation of natural resources. Everything is interlinked. Accountability and enforcement must be strengthened throughout, along with international cooperation. And we need partnerships across the public and private sectors and with civil society, young people, women, and indigenous groups whose traditional knowledge and resource management practices stretch back millennia. Ladies and gentlemen, nature on won't thrive on good intentions and we are very hopeful with this cop 17 and the very grateful to the dynamic leadership that the government of Armenia has shown in the preparation of this COP. Now guided by the evidence in the report that we are presenting today, we can halt and reverse biodiversity loss and secure the national foundations upon which all human life and prosperity depend. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We will now turn to the head of.

Thank you very much and good afternoon to members of the press and media. The State of Biodiversity report shows that we are making some progress, yes, towards halting and reversing biodiversity loss through the 23 targets that, as we just heard from Secretary General, we agreed in Montreal four years ago. But as we also heard, it shows that we have much more to do still. And that acceleration of action is even more crucial when we look at, following our recent report, Limiting Overshoot, this report in which we confirm that we are indeed heading for global temperature rise above the 1.5 degree target. And even if we succeed in limiting that peak and returning back down to 1.5, because 1.5 remains our target by the end of the century, we are looking at decades of heightened climate impacts with very significant consequences for biodiversity. So exceedance of 1.5 increases the likelihood of forest dieback, increases the likelihood of phenological shifts. warming oceans that become more inhospitable to species, irreversible tipping points, and so much more. And of course, risks to nature cascade right across the food, the water, the health, and the energy and livelihoods. And these links between climate change, biodiversity, and indeed our very own health and prosperity highlight just how important it is for us to treat this environmental challenge as one, not as individual elements. And so that we have to accelerate action. We have to ensure that all of the multilateral environmental agreements that countries have made, whether on biodiversity, on climate, on pollution, on land, that these are working together towards our common and interwoven goals as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals. As a host of many of these agreements, we at UNEP have had this focus for years, of course, 54 to be precise, and we are together making progress. But we can only succeed if we reach for genuine policy coherence across all of these elements and synergies to pursue integrated and systems approaches. ensure domestic coordination and support and cooperation if we take a whole of society approach and if we optimize the available and maximize the available financing. And of course, delivering more finance will be essential and was part of the package that we agreed in Montreal. The global biodiversity framework calls for 200 billion in funding. per year from all sources, public and private, alongside a reduction in harmful subsidies and incentives. But today, every dollar that invests in protecting nature, we're spending $30 on destroying it. So redirecting subsidies from activities that harm nature and towards those that are nature positive is absolutely essential so that we can reach the global biodiversity framework goals. That's what we have to do. And when we do that, we reach benefits across sectors and societies. The Global Biodiversity Framework is essentially our very best shot at halting and reversing biodiversity loss, our very best shot at a better world. And as COP17, under the strong leadership of our generous and fantastic hosts from Armenia, begins next week, this report sets the tone for the focus, the ambition, and the urgent action that we need to deliver. for the GBF. All leaders and all negotiators must respond to these findings, remain determined to step up action and meet the goals and the targets they set themselves when they came together in Montreal and agreed on these. I thank you.

Thank you very much. We'll now turn to the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Under-Secretary-General Astrid Schumacher.

Thank you very much and good afternoon, members of the media. For us in the Secretariat, this is an amazing moment, a proud moment to have the UN Secretary General launch this important report, State of Biodiversity Action. Now, you have heard that four years ago in Montreal, countries have made important promises. They agreed to 23 targets, which they said would halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, on the way to 2050, when we want to live in harmony with nature and thrive in harmony with nature. And you could say this was the easy moment, you know, countries sign up to targets and then they move on. And exactly this has not happened with this framework, and that makes us very, very proud today and very, very optimistic that we can turn around these negative trends that you have heard about from previous speakers. Countries have engaged with the framework. They have taken their own commitments. They've looked in the mirror. They are reporting on these commitments in record numbers. We have more than 140 countries that submitted their national reports on how the targets are being implemented. 90% of countries have put national targets in place. reflecting the global targets. That is unprecedented. And reflecting them essentially across the whole breadth of those 23 targets that address everything from the drivers of loss to the economic conditions that need to change to sustainable consumption and production and so many, many other things. So as the Secretary General and others have said, progress is being made. But of course also we don't want to be naive. There's also a lot more to be done. And when we look at the reports that we got from countries and the other data that we could integrate into this framework, we see important shortfalls. We see that the progress is uneven across the targets, and importantly, for this COP in particular, it is not yet at the pace and at the scale that is required for us to meet the 2030 targets. In fact, parties themselves have acknowledged that fewer than half of the aligned national targets that they themselves have assessed are currently on track. So in general, what we see is when environment ministries are in charge, we manage to move forward, slowly, but we did move. forward. So there is the highest progress. But across the framework, where action needed to be taken by other ministries, finance ministries, agriculture ministries, energy ministries, economic ministries, progress is lagging behind, with the biggest gap in the targets linked to the relationship between biodiversity and economic systems, including business action, sustainable consumption, and, as we've heard, incentives that drive finance the wrong way. So if you hear there is no finance, please do not believe it. Finance is there. The economies continue to grow, but it is being spent on activities that harm the economy rather than those that work with nature and sustain life on this planet. And the report tells us this bit of news very, very clearly. In fact, the target 18, a very difficult one about reforming, repurposing harmful subsidies, is one of those that is really, really lagging behind. And countries struggle to develop positive incentives also because they have no fiscal space for that, but they might have that fiscal space if they would repurpose the subsidies and redirect economic activities through non-harmful activities for nature. So other examples have already been made. I don't want to take more time. We are looking forward to a discussion with you. But I do want to say that COP17 is now this very, very important moment to take these findings And as the president designate has said, to turn these findings into actions so that we're not just coming here and saying, we're not doing well enough. We're coming here and we're saying we must do better. We will do better. We know where the gaps are. We know what we need to do. And we're coming together, building on the good examples that are around everywhere in the world, scaling those up, redirecting finance, and moving forward towards a future with next generations can also have a life on this planet that is worth living. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. We'll now turn to questions. We have people online and in the room, so we'll be doing some alternating. First question will go to Emma Vardanyan, please. Wait for the microphone, thank you. And tell us who your question is addressed to.

Good afternoon, Emma Vardanyan, Public Television. Mr. Minister, my question is addressed to you. through the presidency at COP17, Armenia offers four main initiatives that in fact cover the use of monitoring technology for the biodiversity, conservation of highland ecosystems, biodiversity beyond specially protected nature areas, and also positive incentives for the development of economy. What are your expectations and what gaps are these initiatives are going to be filling and what practical results do you expect? Thank you.

Thank you for the question. Yes, you're right. Presidency, apart from the main agenda to be brought forward in the framework of COP, has four main initiative suggestions. These are special recommendations from the Presidency, specifically, believe me, it's a lot. given how saturated the agenda is. First of all, as regards the monitoring technology for biodiversity, there is Yerevan Center. The reason we are conversing about this generally and the reason we are discussing the four initiatives, because as it was said, in order to reach the 30 on 30 targets, we still have a lot to do. At large, the decisions have already been made. And the Republic of Armenia as a country, as a party, is committed to implementation. We have agreed to that agenda. But as all the other countries, we might also have difficulties in reaching these goals. And we have decided to come up with recommendations that might have supported the further expediting of this process. Now, as regards the issue of monitoring, I think this is one of the most important issues in the world generally. We're saying all the time that the decisions have to be science-based. then without such initiatives and given the development of technology and the role of the Republic of Armenia in this sector, I think it would be quite correct to come up with such recommendation. Next, highland ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems that are also related to the highland ecosystems. Why this specific recommendation? Because we're a highland country, we're mountainous. And mountainous systems, island systems, they provide for sufficient resource of fresh water. That's 55 to 60%. Unfortunately, the number of protected areas is not enough. It's just 19% that our protected areas cover the highlands. Correspondingly, we are paying attention to the Andorak island systems as well. Next. effective measures and specifically territorial and terrestrial measures that are related to the national center. This is specifically about specially protected nature areas. We are going to come up with some legislative initiatives in the nearest future. But months ago, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia approved the new law on specially protected areas. And there are different formulations specifically targeting the new mechanisms for expansion of these areas. enlargement of these areas. And this might be another mechanism to reach the goals. And finally, the positive incentives and call from Yerevan for that purpose. So this is specifically related to biodiversity and economy and the fact that they are interrelated, as Ms. Anderson mentioned. investment of one USD in biodiversity, in fact, returns 30 times more, three zero. Well, that's also contributing to those initiatives. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. We're going to try to go online and take questions from Catherine Eichhorn of the New York Times. Can you connect? Go ahead, Kelly.

Hello there. Can you see me all right?

We can hear you. Go ahead.

Hi. Thank you. Of course, we understand that the United States is not a party to the treaty, and yet often comes and often exerts quite a sizable presence from the sidelines. I'm wondering what you're expecting from the United States this year. Do you expect representation from the government? Thank you.

Maybe, Executive, if you could take that question, thank you.

Yeah, thank you for that question. Indeed, the United States is not a party, has over the years been engaged with the work in the convention, has of course also domestic legislation protecting nature. For this particular COP, I believe we do not have a vast number of registrations, but we do have participants, certainly also from civil society that remains very engaged, and also from some US states.

Do you expect a federal presence? Do you expect the federal government to be sending anyone?

So you see me look in the room, trying to look at the colleagues dealing with registration. I believe there is a small delegation, but I will confirm that to you verbally. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. We'll take a question in the room from Monica, please. Over here, if you can stand. Thank you.

Welcome, everyone. I'm Monica Yevdician, EcoLure, EcoNews Information Agency journalist. My question is for Mr. Cutereau. For the protection of biodiversity, the usual appeal to governments is to increase investments for preserving biodiversity. whilst economic and financial systems continue to incentivize types of activities that result in the loss of that biodiversity, they harm nature. My question is this, whether the main challenge for biodiversity conservation is finance. Is it the inadequacy of investments or have we reached a point where we are simply unable to change the economic models that harm nature And so in your opinion, what change do governments and financial economic systems have to make in their models to really achieve the targets that we will be speaking about in the two COP zones over the next two weeks so as to achieve biodiversity conservation in real?

In my opinion, the central question is a question of power. We still have too much power of fossil fuel industry. We still have too much power of those that make fortune destroying forests in many parts of the world. We still have too much power for those that overfish. We still have too much power for those that in many countries of the world, because they retain the economic power, have a very strong influence in the political power. And what we need is to change these power relations. And we have an ally, and that ally is the fact that things are changing. Look at the question of fossil fuels. Today, fossil fuels are more expensive than renewables. And about safety, after what happened in the Gulf and what happens in the Black Sea, it is clear that renewables are much safer than fossil fuels. So things are changing in the world and will help us to change the power relations to make sure that governments will also be much strongly committed to fight the loss of biodiversity and at the same time that we are able to multiply the resources that exist today in order to finance the support to biodiversity. And I'll give you an example. If we give $1 to one project, it is $1. If we put $1 in the capital of a multilateral development bank, this dollar is multiplied by 5, 7, 8, because the bank has the capacity to go to the market and to get that money. You have seen the creation of special drawing rights. If special drawing rights are created, and they are channeled through multilateral development banks, they multiply the resources available without any single cost for any budget in the world. So we need to make sure if banks, multilateral development banks, give guarantees in much bigger level, they, with a smaller cost, may mobilize a much larger amount of private finance to support biodiversity instead of just making their own loans. So there is a way to multiply the resources that exist. So we need, first, a change of power, and I'm optimistic that power relations are changing, and we need to multiply the resources available, and there are ways to do so. Bureaucracies are making it difficult to change. Sometimes governments are making it difficult to change, but what is obvious, sooner or later, we'll win.

Thank you very much. We're going to go back online to Nick Perry from AFP.

Nick.

Thank you for the question. Nick Perry from AFP. A question for the Secretary-General. Given the lack of progress that you have outlined in meeting the global biodiversity targets, but also the difficulty in finding consensus among countries at the moment at a multilateral level. Are you really confident that this summit in Armenia can find some common ground between countries to make progress and not just more pledges and more commitments? Can they actually work towards achieving the commitments that have already been made? Thank you.

Well, first of all, if you have listened to what I said, I spoke about good news and bad news. So it's not all bad news. There is progress since the Kunming-Monreal global framework. There is progress, but not enough. We are far from what is necessary. And I have to say that in the preparation of this COP, in its role of the presidency, Armenia has shown a remarkable capacity to mediate among the different interests that are at stake. So we are hopeful that this COP will be a success. It will not solve once and for all the problem of loss of biodiversity because of the power questions I mentioned in my previous answer, but it can make a remarkable progress in order to make sure that was started in Kunming, Montreal, and is now analyzed mid-term, we'll be moving forward with a much stronger speed in the second-half, if I may.

Yes.

Thank you. The whole point of this COP is to make the decisions more tangible. I'll just keep it short. That is why our motto is taking action for nature. We like those decisions. We like progress. We like implementation. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We'll go to Ermin here in black.

Go ahead.

24 News, Ermin Mikailian. My question is addressed to Mr. Guterres. Mr. Gutierrez, as you may know, after the war, Armenia and Azerbaijan, specifically on the 8th of August 2025 in Washington, White House signed, well, initial peace agreement. And though Azerbaijan says it's close to peace with Armenia, but there are still prisoners of war kept in Baku. What's your attitude to the situation that after war and respective action, Baku would not return the POWs. How strong is this peace? What do you think? And can there be a stronger peace if Azerbaijan is not returning them? What's your call or your message to Baku? Thank you.

Well, I'm a strong supporter of the peace agreement. I hope the peace agreement moves very quickly in all directions. This is one of the directions, there are others. And I'm very hopeful that things will move fast in order to complete the peace agreement and in order to solve all those pending problems that are indeed regrettable.

Lucina Gregorian, Free News TV. My question addressed to Mr. Guterres. What are the actions planned by UN so that smaller and more vulnerable countries, Armenia specifically, withstand the climate risks and overcome those? What is the assistance, technical, financial? Thank you.

We have been, I believe, it is honest to recognize that in the front line of a very strong campaign for climate justice. And a key aspect of climate justice is the capacity to provide developing countries with the volume of resources that is necessary, both to accelerate mitigation, but very specially because many developing countries are facing terrible problems already because of climate change, to invest in adaptation and to invest in the resilience of their communities. And when I mentioned just a few minutes ago the kind of measures that are necessary. We have already obtained some of them. The volume of the capacity of multilateral development banks has increased. The volume of resources invested in these areas has increased. But we need to have a major change in the way the whole financial ecosystem works. And we have been in the front line of the reform of the international financial architecture in order to make sure that developing countries indeed have access to the funding that they need. Sometimes developed countries say that they have their own budget problems, now there is defense expenditure. In my opinion, that doesn't justify the reduction of ODA. But even with the ODA that exists today, it can be multiplied with the methodologies that I just explained. in order to make sure that Armenia and many other countries have access to the funding necessary for responding adequately to climate change and to the other aspects, namely in relation to biodiversity.

Thank you. Thank you. Sputnik Armenia.

Sputnik Armenia.

On the question of my colleague, In your recent call, you called for governments and international financial institutions to increase climate finance threefold from 2 or 1.3 billion. Have you done any homework with IFIs and governments to make sure they are on the same page with you and they are indeed going to increase finance? How is the fundraising going on today? And Do you believe you can reach out to commercial finance outside developing finance which is understandably just a fraction of global finance? Why should commercial banks or investment funds be interested in investing in climate projects? What kind of financial return they can expect?

Well, first of all, There are commitments made in relation to climate finance. They were made in the two last COPs for climate. And the commitments include mobilization of up to 1.3 trillion US dollars. and $300 million of mobilization from developed countries per year to developing countries. So the commitments are made, and the governments that made the commitments have the responsibility to implement them. Now, what I said a few moments ago is that even if they do not have the money in the budgets, There are mechanisms that allow to multiply those amounts. And one of the things I mentioned was exactly the capacity to use public money to mobilize private money. If you have a bank, and the bank makes a loan, let's say, of $100 million, it means the bank will no longer have $100 million to lend to someone else. But if the bank gives a guarantee, that guarantee will cost very little, and it will mobilize $100 billion of a private bank at a low cost because of the guarantee. So if the multilateral development banks give a much bigger amount of their resources in guarantees, and if national development banks give a much bigger amount of guarantees than of direct loans, They will multiply the private finance in the ways that are equivalent from the point of view of cost for the countries, and that will multiply the resources that are available. The problem is that banks are sometimes reluctant, because a guarantee does not give a lot of publicity. I mean, you give a guarantee, but it is the private bank that does the operation. But you cannot live on vanity. It's time to live on practical things. And we have not enough money. So let's do everything. Let's use every instrument to multiply the money we have. And let's forget some bureaucratic, I mean, old habits that are now an obstacle to do the right thing.

21 TV news. This is your first visit to Armenia. I'm very hopeful you will get a chance to fall in love with our country. Although you arrived last night and today the weather is not as favorable, I hope that in the next few days the weather will clear up so that you can enjoy our biblical Mount Ararat. Two questions. One question just came up regarding the detainees from our country. Why is the international community, the UN, with your leadership, why is the international community and the UN with your leadership not putting much pressure on the president of Azerbaijan to release the Armenian detainees? This is the first question. Please answer it directly. And the second question is, there was a big fuss in the Armenian Parliament about COP17 budget abuse and corruption risks, opposition MPs stated there are strong risks of corruption. One example is this badge, which was purchased for about $3.50 apiece. In response to this, Armenia's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister said, Mr. Guterres, that the procurements were made only and only in accordance with UN procurement standards. My question is, Is the UN really imposing such high cost standards upon host countries or not? Thank you.

Go.

Ahead.

On all parties to implement all the aspects of the peace agreement as quickly as possible, and that includes naturally the prisoners. In relation to the second question, I have to say that we have pretty confidence that there is no corruption in the organization of the COP. And I give you the floor to explain some detail that I'm not aware of.

Not sure, should I answer in English? Should I answer in Armenian?

I'd like to hear the answer.

Thank you for the question. Mr. Kuteras, I just want to inform you that we have quite rigorously studied the organizational experience of many different countries. I assure you and everyone in this room, I have not found, and this is not my wish, this is a statistic you can all study, I have not found one country in the world that organizes the procurement procedure as transparently as the Republic of Armenia does. And this because of this transparency, we are getting complaints from many organizations and colleagues who are saying it slows down the procurements. Nevertheless, in the shortest possible time frames, we've tried to do everything to make sure that this space and not just this space, but the city of Yerevan is hosting our international guests, heads of states, tens of thousands of people in Armenia properly, suitably. As to the technical aspects of your question, I would invite you to, in your studies, to go a bit deeper, look at the documents on your own, look at the latest publications. Deputy Minister of Environment, Mr. Mikuschan, presented the whole process in great detail. Everything is very public, and I think that the answers to all your questions will be found there. I don't want, in this room, to overburden our guests and our colleagues with these types of technical questions describing the technical specifications.

I've been in many COPs and meetings and summits Most of the things I had was much more ostentatious than this pin.

On that note, thank you very much. Thank you to all participants. Thank you.